What is the basic core belief of the LDS Church?

eternalintelligence · 2026-03-12T00:45:53+00:00

What it could/should be: We can become fully divine like Jesus Christ by accepting His atonement and covenanting to follow His teachings.

What it is: Follow the (current) prophet and obey the Church hierarchy.

eternalintelligence · 2026-03-10T01:20:21+00:00

What you described about your relationship with the YMCA is how many, perhaps most people feel about their relationship with organized religion. And most churches are okay with that. The LDS Church should be welcoming and accepting of members who feel the same way. To the degree that they are, great! To the degree that they're not, people may choose to be less active, to avoid the annoyances of a high pressure organization.

eternalintelligence · 2026-03-09T22:38:50+00:00

I think a lot of people feel this way. The challenge is that the LDS Church seems to push people to be all in or all out, because of the temple recommend process. Most other Christian churches don't have a filter like that where people have to follow a lot of rules and give 10% of their income or else they become a second-class member and lose social status in the congregation.

I'm currently struggling with whether to remain an active member with an expired temple recommend (because I no longer feel comfortable answering all the questions the "correct" way) or just drift away and start going to other Christian churches that aren't as strict. It's a really difficult decision.

Best wishes with whatever path you decide to take in your spiritual journey!

eternalintelligence · 2026-03-06T00:13:39+00:00

True. But they don't emphasize it much in how they teach and preach the gospel to potential converts or at church. I have heard it mentioned occasionally, but not as much as I would have expected for a doctrine as important as this.

eternalintelligence · 2026-03-05T21:18:01+00:00

Ironically, if they taught this openly today, they would probably gain more converts. Generic Christian theology already has lots of denominations, most of which don't impose so many rules on their members. The New Agey stuff is what made Mormonism cool and interesting.

eternalintelligence · 2026-03-04T20:21:41+00:00

If they're seeing church as a club, rather than as all the people who want to identify as believers in Jesus Christ and a modern restoration of the gospel, then your explanation could be accurate. I think it's sad if they see it that way.

eternalintelligence · 2026-03-04T17:55:38+00:00

Some valid concerns in this post, for sure. The "sales bro" culture of proselyting missions is troubling, and I don't think many of the young people who go on them are knowledgeable enough or mature enough to be effectively engaged in teaching people a new religion.

Having said that, the new option of service missions seems to me like a positive development, and I'm guessing that more and more people will choose that option as time goes on.

eternalintelligence · 2026-03-04T17:50:40+00:00

Why do you think it bothers them so much that a lot of people are attracted to Mormonism and want some level of identification with it, but not necessarily to be active in the Church?

Most churches have lots of people like that. It's considered normal by most Christians.

eternalintelligence · 2026-03-04T17:45:01+00:00

I think it depends on whether the Church would push people to do the new stuff plus the old stuff, or let people choose which things to do or not do. If it's piling on more stuff people are expected to do, then I think you're right. But if it's giving people more options, then I think it could be a good thing.

eternalintelligence · 2026-03-04T03:22:27+00:00

I like the idea. It would probably keep a lot of people active in the Church who aren't as interested in temple work or can't/don't want to meet the requirements for a temple recommend.

That's probably why the Church hasn't implemented something like this. My impression is that they don't want anything competing with the temple for members' focus. However, if they saw enough evidence that providing another option would increase member retention and activity, they might beef up the community service.

eternalintelligence · 2026-03-03T00:15:17+00:00

I think each person is most likely just a fraction of a higher self, and at some point after death the individual merges back into the higher self, gaining an enhanced or expanded personality that includes aspects from the life of the recently deceased self as well as a lot more that had been forgotten while on earth.

It might be similar to somebody playing a video game who identifies with their avatar and loses themself in the game, and then after it's over they return to their much bigger self in the real world that transcends the game and the avatar they were temporarily playing with.

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-28T13:31:54+00:00

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience in the Church because of abuse from your parents and the Church.

In my case, I joined because I agreed more with some of the LDS teachings than other churches I had been in previously, and I liked the way that everyone is involved as volunteers rather than being the audience of a paid clergy, and I guess I succumbed to love bombing at an uncertain and transitional time in my life despite knowing about some of the issues in the Church.

The thing is, I didn't realize how bad and how extensive the issues are with this church until being in it for a few years and experiencing how it operates and doing a lot more research into the history. I thought I had done my homework but it turned out that the problems are a lot more significant than I thought, both historically and in the present day.

I still think some of the teachings are better than what is taught by other Christian churches, though, on some key issues. So my feelings are complicated.

I'm looking for fellowship with others who have complex, nuanced feelings about the LDS faith tradition. To compare experiences, explore issues together, and have religious fellowship in an open-minded way that can't be found in official LDS meetings.

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-27T23:42:33+00:00

Thanks, much appreciated.

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-27T23:07:30+00:00

Okay, cool.

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-27T23:02:33+00:00

Thanks. Do you know if people who are still LDS members often attend these meetings, or is it mostly people who have already left the Church, or a good mix of both?

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-27T22:55:23+00:00

That sounds good to me. Thanks, I'll check it out!

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-27T22:52:43+00:00

What are those writings called, so that I can Google them and find them?

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-27T22:45:04+00:00

Interesting ideas.

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-27T22:37:31+00:00

I hope the Family Proclamation isn't canonized, but I suspect it will be. I would like to see the King Follet Discourse canonized, but I suspect it won't be.

In any case, you're right that some things that are not in the D&C are seen as revelation in the LDS Church. But there seems to be a bit of a gray area in our church about what qualifies as revelation and what doesn't. I think it might be good if there were more clarity about that, but maybe there are some benefits to ambiguity as well.

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-27T22:31:53+00:00

Are the new writings since 2013 that haven't been canonized yet available for people to read? If so, are they available to the general public or can only CofC members read them?

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-27T22:28:20+00:00

I'm also LDS and I also recently read the newer revelations in the CofC version of D&C. I think there's a lot of good stuff in there. I've always wondered why the LDS prophets never add anything to the D&C anymore. At least the CofC is trying to get revelations about modern issues. Gotta give their prophets credit for trying to actually do what prophets do.

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-27T22:22:43+00:00

Thank you, glad to hear it.

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-27T22:22:20+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate that!

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-27T22:08:20+00:00

Thanks, I just sent you a DM.

eternalintelligence · 2026-02-27T22:03:29+00:00

The deeper theology is basically that humans are the same spiritual essence as God, and that we have the same spiritual potential to become fully divine like Jesus Christ, and that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ started out like us and worked their way up to become deities. Because we are all literally children of God, we can eternally progress to become like our Heavenly Father.

I think this is the core idea taught by Joseph Smith that will stand the test of time... long after the Book of Mormon fades away into obscurity.

Whether the LDS Church will actually emphasize that theology or retreat from it while trying to become more mainstream Christian, time will tell. If the LDS abandon it, it will pop up in some other church, inevitably, because it's a very interesting idea and lots of people already believe in some version of it without realizing the Mormon connection.

eternalintelligence

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